Sliding-door controller



J. GULLAGE.

SLIDING DOOR CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, 1921.

1,41 1,625. Patented Apr. 4, 1922. 4 FIE-.1 1g

INVENTDH 2 44 in ATTDRNEYE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH GULLAGE, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT ANDMESNE ASSIGNMENTS, OF TWO-THIRDS TO FRANK F. COGGIN, OF MEDFORD, MASSA-CHUSETTS.

SLIDING-DOOR CONTROLLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

Application filed March 9, 1921. Serial No. 450,963.

To all whom it may comer-n:

Be it known that I, Josnrrr Gunmen, a citizen of the United States,residing at Somerville, in the county of Mliddlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Sliding-DoorControllers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to sliding doors of railway cars, andparticularly to baggage, mail, express and milk cars, the door being atthe side of the car and adapted to be opened and closed only from theinterior of the car.

The door now used in this class of cars is usually provided withfastening means, adapted to fasten the door in only two positions, viz.,fully opened and fully closed, such means being usually embodied inhooks on the door, and staples on the side of the car, and requiringmanual operation, both to fasten and to release the door, no provisionbeing made for automatically fastening the door in a partly openedposition.

Serious and sometimes fatal accidents have been caused when the door ispartly opened and unfastened, and a train-man is standing in thedoorway, between one edge of the door and the jamb or casing, andleaning against the edge of. the door. In such a case the suddenstarting or stopping of the train is liable to cause the door to movequickly toward its fully open position, and cause the trainman to fallout of the car.

Other serious accidents have been caused when the door is wide open andunfastened, and a trainman standing in the doorway leans against thejamb or casing. In such a case a sudden checking of the movement of thetrain causes the door, through momentum, to suddenly close against andinjure the trainman. L A door ofthis character is heavy and runs easilyon rolls, so that it is capable of striking a severe blow.

One object of the invention is to prevent liability of accidents fromthe above-mentioned. and other causes, this object being accomplished byproviding a row of fixed keepers at the upper horizontal edge of thedoorway, said keepers being at difli'erent distances from the verticaledges, and by providing the door with a locking bolt, guided in avertical path and adapted to automatically engage either keeper and lockthe door in any position provided for by the row of keepers.

Another object is to provide improved means for manually retracting theautomatically projected bolt to unlock the door, this object beingaccomplished by combining with the bolt a hand lever, fulcrumed on thedoor and constituting a door-opening and closing handle, connectionsbeing provided between the hand lever and bolt, whereby the lever isnormally maintained in a central position, and is caused to retract thebolt by a swinging movement in either direction from said position, saidswinging movement belng caused by the application to the lever of theforce which moves the door.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,-

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation, looking from the interior ofthe car, and showing portions of one side of the car and a portion of asliding door equipped with controlling means embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged section on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlargement of a portion of Figure 1.

Figure at is an edge view of a portion of the door, and an edge view ofthe mechanism shown by Figure 3.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of thefigures.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention shown by the drawings, 12represents an elongated horizontal member, preferably an iron bar orstrip, fixed to the the upper edge of a doorway, in the side of a car,and provided with a row of keepers 13, located at different distancesfrom the vertical edges of the doorway, one of said vertical edges beingshown at 14: in Figure 1. The keepers are preferably the walls oforifices formed in the strip 12, and they are preferably spaced aboutsix inches apart, the row extending entirely across the doorway, so thatthe keepers at the ends of the row are adaptedto cooperate withthe-locking bolt hereinafter described, in locking the sliding door 16fully closed, and fully open, the 1nte rmediate keepers similarlycooperating 1n locking the door at various intermediate positions. I

With the door, is suitably connected 8. locking bolt '17, which isautomatically proment beinglsuch that whenthe bolt is manu allyretracted from a keeper and then released, it bears yieldingly on. thestrip 12,

while the door is being moved until it reaches the nextkeeper, intowhich it 13, ormay be automatically projected to lock the door. Thestrip 12 is preferably located directly over the upper edge of the door,and the path of the bolt. is preferably between the sides of the door,as shown by Figure 2.

To manually retract the bolt I provide a rod 20, which is connected withthe bolt by a connecting member 20*, extending from the rod to the boltthrough a'vertically elongated slot 21, in the inner side of the door.Said member as here shown, is a bent end portion of the rod joined tothe bolt, and is movable in the slot 21 to the extent required toretract the bolt. The rod and the bolt are guided in a vertical path byguides 22, fixed'to the inner side of the door in vertical alinementwith each other and embracing the red, the bolt and rod being normallyraised by thespring. While any suitable means may be provided formanually moving the rod to retract the bolt, I prefer the means nextdescribed. 23 represents a hand lever, fulcrumed on the door, thefulcrum being provided b a screw or bolt 24, entering a block 24, whicis fixed to the door. are provided between the rod 20 and the lever 23,whereby the lever is normally maintained by the yieldingly supported rodin the central position shown by full lines in Figure 3, and whereby thelever is caused by a swinging movement from said position to depress therod, as shown by dotted lines in Figure 3, and thus retract the bolt,the lever being adapted to swingi in either direction from its centralposition. Force'ap plied manually to swing the lever from its centralposition may be continuedto push" the door in either direction, theswinging of the lever being limited either by the hearing or the rodportion 20 on the end of the slot 21, or by the bearing of the lmver endofthe rod on the block 24*, so that the lever is'rigidly supported inposition to move the oor. H

The said connections between the, rod and lever are preferably embodiedin a pair of laterally.projectin'g'fingers on the rod,

and a pair of laterally projecting fingers 26 on the lever, looselyengaging the rod fihgerafl I "prefer to provide the', lever filg'e'rsli'b Witlrbent end; portions 26, b ing separably on therodfingers 25, the al' rangdifien'tbeingsuchthat when. the lever is swungfrom its central position, one otthe end portions '26 acts on one oi."the rod fingers 25 todepress the red, the other bent Suitableconnections portion being separated from i the; other rod linger, asindicated by dotted lines in Fig;

.ure 3.-

7 It will be seen that-when the bolt isiprojected to lock the door, thetwo rod fingers bear on the two lever fingers, and maintain the levervieldingly in its central position,

and that when the lever is swung from said variousintermediatepositions, and provides means for preventing any extended move ment ofthe doorby momentum.

The door controlled by means embodying my invention cannot be openedfrom the outside, cannot be opened from the inside until the hand leveris moved from its normal position, and is automatically lockedimmediately after the operator removes his handfrom the lever, wheneverthe bolt registers with a keeper.

improved controller obviates the necessity of using'a short chain on anexpress car, to limit the opening of the door suflici'ently to prevententranceto the car from without. The controller is adapted to herformthe same-function "the chain, the lever being released when the door isslightly gpened, and permitting'the locking of the cor. The spring 18and the lower portionof the bolt 17 are preferably housed in a casingtil), inserted in a mortise 31, formed in the upper edge of the door,the spring casing on the closed inner end ofthe bushing, and the slot 21being formed in one side of the casing.

It will lie seen thatJIhtWe provided a controller constituting anattachment a plicable to any of the various sliding oors now in use inbaggage,'mail, express, and milk cars, with no change or adaptation ofthe door other than the formation of the mortise 31 in the inner side'of 'the door at its upper edge. .The essential elementsof theatta'rhment shownby the drawings are the casing '30, inserted in themortise 31, and provided with theslot 21, the guides 22, screwed orbolted tothe inner side of the door, the rod 20, manually movable insaidguides and located atthe inner side ofthe door, the locking bolt17'in'the casihgfand the rod and bolt-connecting member 20" ex tending fromthe rod through the slot 211m 1 the bolt, suitable"means,such as thespring 18, being provided for automatically pro jecting the bolt; andthe'rod being manually movable in one directiontoi retract the bolt.

I claim:

1. A controller constituting an attachment applicable to a sliding door,and comprising a casing insertable in a mortise formed in the upper endof the door, and provided with a vertically elongated slot in one side,guides attachable to the inner side of the door, an elongated manuallymovable rod, movable in said guides, the form of the rod and guidesbeing such that when the guides are located on the door in verticalalinement with each other, the rod is mov able endwise in a verticalpath, a locking bolt in said casing, and a rod and bolt-connectingmember extending from the upper end of the rod through said slot to thebolt, and adapted to retract the bolt when the rod is manually movedendwise in one direction, means being provided for automaticallyprojecting the bolt, when the controller is installed on a door, and therod is released.

2. A sliding-door controller comprising an elongated rod, movablevertically in fixed guides on the door, a locking bolt carried by saidrod, and yieldingly projected to engage a fixed keeper adjacent to thedoor, and a hand lever fulcrumed on the door, and con stituting adoor-moving handle adapted to swing on its fulcrum, the rod beingprovided with laterally projecting fingers, and the lever being providedwith corresponding laterally projecting fingers loosely engaged with therod fingers the arrangement being such that the rod normally maintainsthe lever in a central position, and is retracted with the bolt by aswinging movement of the lever in either direction from said position.

3. A sliding-door controller comprising an elongated rod, movablevertically in fixed guides on the door, a locking bolt carried by saidrod, and yieldingly projected to engage a fixed keeper adjacent to thedoor, and a hand lever fulcrumed on the door, and constituting adoor-moving handle adapted to swing on its fulcrum, the rod beingprovided with laterally projecting fingers, and the lever being providedwith angular fingers bearing separably on the rod fingers, thearrangement being such that the rod fingers normally bear simultaneouslyon the lever fingers to maintain the lever in a central position. aswinging movement of the lever in either direction from said positioncausing one of its angular fingers to retract the rod and bolt, andseparating the other angular finger from the corresponding rod finger.

a. In a railway car of the character stated, in combination, a row offixed keepers at the upper edge of a doorway in the car, said keepersbeing at diiferent distances from the vertical edges of the doorway, asliding door adapted to close the doorway, and a controlling attachmentadapted to cooperate with said keepers in locking the door in either ofa plurality of positions, said attachment comprising a casing insertedin a mortise, formed in the inner side of the door, one side of saidcasing being substantially flush with the inner side of the door, andprovided 'with a vertically elongated slot, guides attached to the innerside of the door in vertical alinement with each other, an elongatedvertical rod manually movable endwise in said guides, a locking boltvertically movable in said casing, and a rod and bolt-connecting memberextending from the upper end of the rod through said slot to the bolt,and adapted to retract the bolt when the rod is manually moved endwise,in one direction, means being provided for automatically projecting thebolt when the rod is released.

5. In combination, a railway car having a side doorway and a row offixed keepers at the upper edge of the doorway; a door freely movablehorizontally to open andclose the doorway; a bolt carried by, andadapted to be projected above the door and to cooperate with either ofsaid keepers, the form of the bolt and keepers being such that theengagement of the bolt with a keeper positively locks the door againsthorizontal movement in either direction, and a boltcontroller includingmeans automatically exerting upward pressure on the bolt to cause it tocooperate with a keeper in automaticallv and positively locking the doorin a position determined by the location of the keeper, said controllerbeing manually operable to retract the bolt and permit movement of thedoor.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

JOSEPH GULLAGE.

